56 EMBASSY TO THE EAST. ioctoner.
large Wooden mortar used by the natives for cleaning rice, was discovered in 1521, and in 1571, Manila was founded. The dis~ coverers found the country about Manila Illltilily settled with an active people called Tagalor; at the north of this nation they met with and conquered the Pampangocs, Zambalcs, l’aiig2isiiiaiies, Yloeds, and Cagayanes: at the eastward of the Tagaloes were the Camarines. Each of these was a distinct people, having a particu- lar language. None of them had a sovereign or chief iiiagistmteg they were divided into a great number of small villages, (tontaining from ﬁfty to one hundred families, each governed by a chief. who was chosen for his wisdom and his deeds in arms. Tlnirgs-e petty states were continually at war with each other, making slaves of their unfortunate prisoners—the mountains were. then, as now, inhabited by the negro race, common to many of the islands in the eastern archipelago. These different races of people, with the exception of about ten thousand, still form the populatioii of the island.
Three leagues from Manila is Cavite, called by the natives Caveit, because it is a crooked point of land CXl.C‘.11dl1'\f_‘§ into the
"sea. Here is a small arsenal and some small vessels are built, 7 .
and occasionally a ship of war. It was formerly the resort of the Acapulco ships, before South America freed l1(3I‘3(‘lf and coiiimerce from the shackles which deprived her of all participation in a free trade.) The natives were found to have all the H0(‘f,‘SS21l‘lCS of life———rice, beans, millet, camotc, a species of potato, pine-apples, oranges, mangoes, hogs, ducks, fowls, goats, and buffaloes, were in abundance. The island aboundcd in deer, wild pigeons, and other game ; the gomuti-palm yielded them, when fresh, a pleasant beverage——when fermented, an intoxicating liipior: the pith fur- nished with sugar—when the liquor was properly boiled down, a farina,inferior to sage, and of the inside of its '{l‘lf1l’](§lllﬂl‘-Sl111p(‘(l fruit a sweetmeat was made. The cocoa-palm afforded a delicious
beverage, and oil for cooking or biirning: the arcca-palm with its_
nut, and the betel—leaf, produced their favourite buyo. The lakes, rivers, bays, and ocean, swarmed with myriads of ﬁsh, which they ensnared in the most ingenious manner, with nets, lines, &c-. The island is traversed by a chain of mountains, extending from north to south, from which others branch out; seine are found isolated, in the midst of plains, while others are surrou.nded by